


Promises, promises.

by Aibhilin



Series: Aibhilin's One Piece Flashfic/Drabble/Oneshot Section [15]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Marineford Events, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fae & Fairies, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, I took canon and had a go at it with a screwdriver, Portgas D. Ace Lives, because I'm still in Marineford-related denial, in an unconventional way but hey when the plot bunnies bite they bite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:27:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27779860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aibhilin/pseuds/Aibhilin
Summary: Ace doesn’t think, just acts, doesn’t reason with anybody but his body and feelings and-Moves in-between the two as fast as he can.A Marineford!AU I've been craving lately.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo
Series: Aibhilin's One Piece Flashfic/Drabble/Oneshot Section [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951219
Comments: 10
Kudos: 69





	Promises, promises.

**Author's Note:**

> My first fae!AU, dear readers!
> 
> Enjoy~

"Every treasure is guarded by dragons. That's how you can tell that it's valuable."

~Saul Bellow

* * *

“I found it!” Ace shouts out, waving the hat in his right hand up above his head, coming up the hillside to approach his brothers. “Twas down at the beach!”

(He neglects to tell them of the tiger he’s fought with)

(Or the snake he has had to wrangle with)

(Or the breeze that took the hat)

(Right up to a fish)

(Who fought)

(He won)

He’s their big brother, after all, and as such, invincible, in their eyes.

(Well, in Luffy’s, at least, and that counts for both)

(Sabo, shut your mouth, your opinion doesn’t count!)

(Until he’s gone, until his ship is blown up, then it does)

* * *

“Found it!” he grabs the hat from where the wind has blown it far away from his brother’s silly head. Luffy really could take better care of his possessions, he sighs, especially that hat. Most treasured as it is, it has to fight a daily fight against his brother’s carelessness, he’d bet his own hat on that.

(And they’re in Alabasta now and Luffy’s at least gone and wrapped a piece of cloth around his hat this time)

(Hopefully it’ll stay where it ought to, right on his little brother’s head)

(Until such a time as when he gives it back to Shanks)

(And becomes the Pirate King, all at once)

(Ace can’t wait to see it)

* * *

There’s one more time, just once, when he thinks Luffy is straggling behind to reach for his hat – has he managed to lose it in the middle of a battlefield, the moron, Ace wonders, as he would not put it past him – and then it’s just a moment, just a mini moment in time, where he freezes, his little brother freezes up and there’s that lava dog reaching for-

Oh no, no, he does NOT!

Ace doesn’t think, just acts, doesn’t reason with anybody but his body and feelings and-

Moves in-between the two as fast as he can.

“Found it.” goes through his head, unbidden, unprompted, a thought that barely scrapes the surface of what he’s feeling and it’s pain-

But.

This is where he needs to be at that very moment.

This is where he has to be, where he is needed, right now.

Unheeded, the fist that’s gone through him retracts, allowing his body to fall down-

And be cradled in his brother’s arms.

His brother, his little brother, _Luffy_ -

Who’s frozen, with shock.

Who’s terrified.

For him.

And he’s-

Found it, truly.

The family he wanted.

The love he’s ever yearned for.

That – nothing can take that away from him.

Not now, or, ever. So, he says, “Thank you… for loving me.”

And means it.

And smiles.

And.

There’s.

Something.

A little something.

That they have forgotten.

That they have forgotten about.

That they have ignored and laid aside.

That they have put aside in their thoughts.

For, there was that tiger, the snake and the fish.

Ace hasn’t _found_ the hat so much as he fought for it.

And when, and when- the Fishman moves between them-

Between them and Akainu, being hit and struck and hurt-

As the hat gets lost, gets lost as Luffy cradles his brother-

And Ace’s last life signs leave his body, his last breath-

And time stands still, is arrested, just before that-

Just before that can happen, before he _dies_ -

(Ace shudders, lifts his head and moves away, away from his little brother)

(Who had nothing to do with this, nothing at all, except for the hat)

(The hat that’s lying innocently there, on the ground)

(And is beckoning him closer)

But he knows.

He knows he’s made a deal.

And he’s lost the hat anew, but he’s found-

Ace has found a family and he thought it doesn’t matter what-

What he finds so long as he _finds_ it, but apparently the nature of the thing is not so.

They are… differently inclined, he figures out now, taking things literally and the literal meaning is-

He has lost the hat, again.

And this time, it’s their failing.

It’s not his brother’s, not his fault.

* * *

He’s made a deal, way back when.

And won’t, can’t die until the deal is fulfilled.

“Until Luffy’s the Pirate King, his hat can’t be lost!”

For what is a big brother for, but to find a lost hat again?

**Author's Note:**

> Helped greatly by [ScarletSorceress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletSorceress/pseuds/ScarletSorceress)' knowledge about Fae and Faeries, this has come into being unexpectedly, folks! XD
> 
> Hope you liked it, dear readers~ do leave a comment, if you've got some time to spare?


End file.
